1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of aircraft assembly. More specifically, the invention relates to the field of robotic processes for automating aircraft assembly procedures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Robotics have long been used in the manufacturing process of a variety of products. It is also known to use metrological techniques to measure physical characteristics of the part during production, so that a robotic system can orient a part so that that part can be processed in some way.
One example of such an arrangement is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,634,950 issued to Simonetti et al. Simonetti discloses a technique wherein a portion of an aircraft fuselage is lined up with an adjacent fuselage section. The original portion is loaded on a support or dolly that is attached to the robotic arm, then metrology techniques (e.g., using optical sensors) are used to create a geometric model, and a center point for the part is determined using the model. The model center point is then conformed to the robot tool center point, and this is used to match up the two fuselage sections so that they are in alignment and will fit together properly.